93 Ct School Districts Have Not Fired A Certified Teacher For Any Reason In Six Years

Most Conn. school districts didn’t fire any certified teachers over 6-year period

Ninety-three Connecticut school districts did not fire a certified teacher between Fall 2004 and Summer 2010, according to a review of state Department of Education data, including 20 of the 50 largest districts.

Danbury (12th), Manchester (16th), East Hartford (17th) Wallingford (18th), and Southington (19th) were the five largest districts that didn’t fire any certified teachers. They each employ roughly 500 to 700 teachers.

Academic research has shown the worst teachers have a long-term impact on students.

A December 2011 study found an ineffective teacher can cost a class of students more than $250,000 in lost future income, as reported by the New York Times. “If you leave a low value-added teacher in your school for 10 years, rather than replacing him with an average teacher, you are hypothetically talking about $2.5 million in lost income,” Harvard Prof. John Friedman, a co-author of the research, told the Times.

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4 Responses to 93 Ct School Districts Have Not Fired A Certified Teacher For Any Reason In Six Years

This fascination with teachers being the reason why schools are “failing” needs to stop. How many school districts are in CT? There are 195 or 198 depending on the sources you choose. That means that about 52% of districts did fire a certified teacher over the last 6 years. Don’t let the bias of the author sway you because clearly that is what he is trying to do. There is a manufacturing of an educational crisis at hand in this state. We do have problems to work on, of course, but we will not do them justice if we operate in a culture of misinformation and fear.

This research also overlooks the fact that sometimes teachers are allowed to resign without being fired, which can be a costly process for both sides. It happens in the private sector as well as the public sector.